


together: a tale in five board games

by dieofthatroar



Series: stuck inside, here's a ficlet [8]
Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Board Games, Fluff, M/M, Misunderstandings, POV Outsider, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-31
Updated: 2020-03-31
Packaged: 2021-02-28 18:27:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23411650
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dieofthatroar/pseuds/dieofthatroar
Summary: Dan in his BBC LGBT interview: "I had friends who honestly would be like, 'so, are you going to get a girlfriend at some point?' and I was like, 'so you have no idea, even though we've been friends for five years.'"Dan and Phil have this friend that comes over for monthly board game night.
Relationships: Dan Howell/Phil Lester
Series: stuck inside, here's a ficlet [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1665151
Comments: 23
Kudos: 217





	together: a tale in five board games

**Dominion**

Josh had just moved to London and had absolutely nobody to play games with. He survived the throws of university on exclusively coffee, determination, and weekly board game tournaments with his flatmates. After graduation, he’d still been close enough to his friends to make the drive to each other’s places to get his game fix. But when his job transferred him to the central office, he left those friends and those days behind him.

He thought he’d be fine. Time to put childish things away. He had a bigger office, nicer suits, very important meetings.

(Josh wasn’t fine.)

Two months in, he felt like he would go crazy. He dreamed about cards and dice and wished he didn’t like his new paycheck enough to transfer back home. This wasn’t the sort of addiction he’d expected to have. 

“I told you, I’ve got a few friends over there,” one of his mates told him over the phone. “You should play with them. I’ll get you in touch.”

Which was how Josh found himself, climbing the stairs up to an unfamiliar flat on a Friday night, just so he could play Dominion.

Dan and Phil were their names. Two guys with haircuts a few years removed from when they could have been cool and a job his mate tried to explain to him but Josh never quite understood Something on the internet... the BBC? He didn’t care. Josh knew the explanation of _his_ job would be unbelievably boring, so he didn’t make others suffer by bringing up the topic at all.

“…be warned, though,” he remembered his friend saying before he hung up. “Those two get _very_ invested in their games.”

Josh wasn’t prepared.

“I _swear to god,_ Phil, if you play another market, I’ll leave,” Dan said.

“It’s my strategy!” Phil said.

“It isn’t a strategy, it’s what you do _every time.”_

Phil looked at his hand, then at the spread of cards over the table, and played another market.

“Phil!” Dan screeched.

“But... you can’t even buy anything,” Josh said, wondering what this strategy was.

Phil took another look over the cards he’d played and sighed. “Maybe I shouldn’t have done that.”

Dan slammed down his hand and stood. “I need a drink.” He padded around the corner and into the hallway.

“Will he be alright?” Josh said, twisting around toward the door. He could hear the clank of glass and a cupboard open and shut. He was depending on these new acquaintances to be his access to gaming. He didn't want to fuck it up so early.

“Hm?” Phil said like he didn’t even notice Dan had stormed out. “Oh, Dan? Yeah, he’s just dramatic. He’ll be back in a minute.”

“He do this a lot?” Josh asked.

“You have no idea,” Phil said with a little laugh.

Dan returned juggling three glasses and a bottle of wine in his arms. He put them down and poured two full and pushed one to Josh. Josh took it.

“Where’s my drink?” Phil asked.

“Pour your own, rat.”

Phil made a face at Dan that seemed to communicate something Josh couldn’t follow and reached for the wine bottle.

“Do you think the farmers in this game care that we’re just buying up this land like it belongs to us?" Phil said, peering at the cards. "They work so hard on it down there and we just fight over it.”

“Phil, what—?”

“And what about the cows?” Phil asked.

Dan shook his head, made eye contact with Josh, and took a long sip of his wine. “Your turn, Josh.”

**Dead of Winter**

Josh fit monthly board game night into his schedule. He put off happy hour and potential date nights just so he could stack cards, roll dice, and dance little victory dances each time he won. They rotated games, some belonging to Dan and Phil, others belonging to him or the rotating group of friends that would come by for these nights. This particular night, Dan had texted him, saying a couple of his visiting friends, Sophie and PJ, wanted to play a game that he’d ordered a few months ago. So, he turned up with Dead of Winter under his arm.

It might have been a mistake. If Dominion started arguments, Dead of Winter basically started a war.

“There are four zombies already over here!” Dan whined. “I’m going to _die_ and it’s all your fault!”

Phil shrugged. “I don’t tell the zombies what to do,” he said. “Zombies don’t have brains though, do they? So maybe they don’t even tell themselves what they do…”

 _“You_ don’t have a brain,” Dan said.

Phil giggled. Dan scowled.

Josh sat back and enjoyed the banter. He had finally become comfortable with the constant poking at each other the two did during these nights and how it was just a side-effect of living together for so long. They were funny guys, nothing like the lads at work Josh wanted to hit over the head with their overpriced suitcases and vacations to Bali.

“Harsh,” Josh said. “I’ll save you from the zombies, Dan.”

“See,” Dan said to Phil. _“Someone_ cares.”

“I think you two forget that this isn’t part of your job,” Sophie said, shaking her head and drawing a card.

“Job?” Josh said.

“When the cameras aren’t around,” Sophie said.

“What cameras?” Josh asked.

“Do you not know what they do?”

Josh just shook his head. He had still never asked. In the months that he’d known them, the topic had still never come up. Sophie laughed.

“They talk to a camera and people pay them,” PJ, said. “Basically.”

“Speak for yourself,” Dan said.

“And do this?” Josh asked. “Play games and laugh at each other online?”

“God, is that what our whole lives have been reduced to?” Dan said.

“Either that, or it’s all just some sort of foreplay,” PJ said into Josh’s ear. Sophie elbowed him.

Josh blinked. “Er—I guess I’ll go to the police station…”

“Role for exposure.”

**Cards Against Humanity**

Josh got promoted. He hated his job more, but he got paid more money. Isn’t that how it always was? His coworkers were insufferable, his days long, but at least he had game night to look forward to.

Dan was making dinner when he arrived, stir-frying vegetables in a ridiculous apron. Phil let him in and apologized as he disappeared to finish a few emails before they started. Josh leaned against the door to the kitchen, not knowing what to do with his hands. He never cooked for himself. He and his two roommates usually ordered out or put a frozen pizza in the oven. But he felt awkward just standing there.

“Anything I can do to help?” Josh asked.

“I’m fine.” Dan pointed at the fridge. “There’s drinks in there if you want something.”

Josh looked through the fridge, packed with a mix of pre-prepared dishes and groceries, and felt a little inadequate. He was an adult. Maybe he should be making more food from scratch. He picked out a coke and turned to Dan. “What do you want?” 

“Same as you,” he said. Josh pulled out a second can.

“Do you ever feel like you’re still a kid?” Josh said. The coke hissed as he opened it. “Pretending to be an adult?”

Dan laughed. “All the time.”

“I’ve been looking at flats,” Josh said. “Scale-up a little, now that I got the funds. Finally have a place by myself for once.”

“Good luck, mate,” Dan said. “Phil and I are thinking about moving too. I’m so done with this place, but it’s just such a hassle, isn’t it?”

Josh always thought their place was nice. Nicer than where he’d been living, that’s for sure. They had it together enough to have real pots and pans at least. He wasn’t sure why they hadn’t moved to their own places yet, but he also hadn’t ever seen roommates get on so well. Maybe it just worked for them.

“A hassle, definitely,” Josh said. “But worth the peace and quiet once I’m on my own, I hope. I’m sure you think about that sometimes.”

Dan frowned as if confused for a moment. He poked at the stir-fry. “Yeah, sometimes Phil can be a clumsy oaf. But definitely no worse than the flatmates I had in uni. More space will help, so he’ll stop tripping over our filming equipment.”

Right, Josh remembered they still worked together, too. Made sense for them to keep all their supplies together as well. He wondered how long that would last. Josh nodded and took a sip of coke. The steam rose out of the pan and smelled amazing.

“So, how’d you learn to cook?” Josh said, watching Dan mix in seasoning and check the rice.

“With difficulty,” Dan said. “Burned shit all the time, Phil almost banned me from the kitchen. Thing is, he was even worse and we needed to eat.”

“I’m impressed,” Josh said.

“Don’t be.” Dan turned down the heat. “Phil bought me a cookbook for Christmas last year and I think I can only successfully do a quarter of the recipes.” He made a face. “Maybe he thinks that’s part of my charm.”

“God, I wish my roommates could cook,” Josh said.

Dan looked at Josh a moment, head tilted like he wanted to say something. The look disappeared, though, after a moment, and Dan turned back to the stove. “Can you hand me a few plates?” he said. “They’re in the cupboard up there.”

When they played Cards Against Humanity that night, Josh felt like there was an uptick in the usual number of sexual innuendos if that were possible. Maybe it were the other friends that had come by that night, wiggling their eyebrows and egging the others on. They lived off of each other's casual dick jokes and crass humor. Especially Dan, though, needed no encouragement.

“The secret to a lasting marriage is communication, communication, and…” Dan said, peering at the cards in his hands, then up at the rest of them. He smirked. “All this liquid in my mouth.”

Phil choked, the rest laughed, and Dan looked straight at Josh.

**Truth Bombs**

A few months after Josh found a new flat, he also met his girlfriend. She was cute and smart and put up with his work mates, but best of all, she was as into board games as he was. The next time they had a game night, he asked if she could come along.

“Sure, can’t wait to meet her!” Phil said over the phone. “We actually wanted to try out something new. Do you mind being our guinea pig?”

Dan and Phil moved as well. It was a bit more of a tube ride to their place now, but he could see why they picked it. It was shiny and new and styled really well. But, holy shit, since when were they rich? He knew they were well enough off, but this was more than he was expecting. More than he thought posting some videos online could make.

“Ashley,” Josh’s girlfriend introduced herself. “Your place is lovely.”

“Thanks,” Phil said. “We’re still decorating, but it’s getting there.”

 _“Some_ of us doing more work than others,” Dan called from further inside.

There were more personal touches in this place. Photos of the two of them, framed and hung on the wall or placed on shelves. Dan and Phil smiling at a camera with an unfamiliar city in the background. Dan and Phil, squished between friends. Some from when they were younger, before even Josh had met them, and others that looked like they had just been taken. Josh guessed this was what people could invest in once they had a bit of stability and enough disposable income—their own faces over their property as a reminder of what belonged to them. Still felt slightly odd, somehow. Josh wondered what photos he could print and put up in his new place.

Dan and Phil were still showing Ashley around the living room, discussing furniture and showing off the view out the window. Without blinking, Dan reached out an arm to guide Phil around the coffee table when Phil got too invested in talking about the light fixtures to notice where he was walking. Josh had long since banned the two from being on the same team in co-op games because of this exact thing. Just like when they played games, they had some sort of psychic connection out here in their daily lives. He wondered how long people had to live together to end up like that. 

Josh tried to stop thinking so hard. “So, what exactly did you mean by guinea pig?” Josh asked. Phil smiled.

It was a game they designed. Or, as Dan described it, came from the strange head of Philip Lester. They were going to publish it and wanted to iron out the kinks before they sent the final version to the game developers.

It was fun. More fun than Josh had expected. (Though, really. _This_ was their job? _This_ was how they paid for this flat?)

“And finally, Josh,” Phil said, reading his card. Josh held his breath. “Your weapon of choice in a zombie apocalypse is… your HR department after new hire orientation.”

“Oh, god,” Josh said.

“Better than my _scream when I lose Mario Kart_ ,” Dan said with exaggerated air quotes, staring at Phil.

“You picked that one as your favorite,” Phil said, offended.

“Not favorite, just most accurate,” Dan said.

“Well, I think the HR one is the most accurate," Josh said. "And written by Ashley, am I right?”

“You are correct,” Ashley said, taking her winning point. “Gotta use that advantage in this game, right?” She winked at Phil.

“Yeah, rub it in,” Dan said.

Josh felt as if something went over his head.

**Wingspan**

It was 2019. Josh had lived in London for five years, and Ashley was now his fiancé. He had gotten another promotion at work and finally became the boss of some of those lads he wished he wasn’t friends with. He owned a car now, had the end of his student loan debt in sight, and he was bringing expensive wine to boardgame night.

Maybe, this is what it was like to be an adult.

They were going to play Wingspan, something he’d been wanting to play since the indie gaming community started buzzing about it. A beautiful bird watching game with cards filled with illustrations of different species and calming pastel color. It was an adult game. A quiet, peaceful, night of fun.

Dan was cooking again. He was getting better, by the scattered dinners Josh had tasted over the years, but he still wore those ridiculous aprons and yelled at Phil for leaving the cupboard doors open.

“Thanks,” Phil said as he accepted the bottle and hugged Ashley. “Should we have some now?”

Dan reached around Phil’s side to grab the bottle. _“I’ll_ be taking that,” he said. “Last time Phil tried to use our bottle opener he almost broke our counter.”

“Did not!” Phil said.

“Don’t lie to our guests, Phil.”

“Fine, I _may_ have let the bottle slip,” Phil said.

“Mhm,” Dan said. “And?”

“And threw it into the sink.”

Dan sighed. “It exploded. Looked like a murder scene. It was nice wine, too.”

Ashley chuckled. “Josh is the same. Can’t leave him unsupervised with sharp objects.”

“I’m learning!” Josh said.

Ashley patted his shoulder. “You are trying, hun.”

So much for Josh finally conquering adulthood. He skulked off to the kitchen after Dan to help with the wine as Ashley and Phil set up the game.

“What’s on the menu?” Josh asked. The oven was on, but he couldn’t see in.

“Roast chicken,” Dan said. “Phil’s request. Guests mean he can eat meat, so he’s going to take advantage as much as he can. Last time his parents came ‘round he made me attempt a full Sunday roast.”

“Lucky guy, that he still has you around to cook,” Josh said.

“Some people are not meant for the kitchen,” Dan replied. He popped the bottle open and Josh found the glasses where he remembered they were.

“What will he do without you?” Josh said.

“Hopefully we’ll never have to find out,” Dan said. He took a glass from Josh’s hand and started to pour.

“Hm,” Josh said, looking around at the fancy appliances in this beautiful kitchen. “But don’t you think about what comes next?”

Dan cocked his head. “What do you mean?”

Since proposing to Ashely, he’d been thinking about next steps. Starting new things. A joint life. Being the adult he pictured in his mind. He wanted that for his friends, too. That tender feeling of accomplishment that he'd been slowly nursing over the years. Settling down. It felt better than he would have imagined. 

“I don’t know, like when you get a girlfriend?” Josh said. “That’ll change things.”

Dan put down the next glass and turned to Josh, eyes searching. “A girlfriend?” he repeated.

Josh blinked. “Yeah, mate. When was the last time you had a girlfriend?”

And Dan started to laugh. He laughed until Josh was afraid he’d stop breathing. What? What was so funny? It wasn’t that odd a question.

“Phil,” Dan called between wheezes. “Phil, get over here! You have to listen to this—”

“What?” Phil said from across the living room. He made his way over. “What happened?”

“Say it again,” Dan said to Josh, flapping his hand at him. “Go on.”

“I just asked if he'd thought about getting a girlfriend,” Josh said, trying to find where he’d gone wrong. He had nowhere to backtrack to.

A nervous smile found its way to Phil’s face and Ashley sighed.

“Josh, you idiot,” Ashley said.

Dan was still laughing. He took two glasses of wine, handed Josh one, and tapped it against his own. “To very good roommates,” he said, inclining his head toward Ashley. “The ones that can cook.” Dan took a sip and sauntered off to the game table.

Josh spent the rest of the night counting eggs, collecting birds, and drinking his very nice wine to hide the blush of embarrassment that flooded his cheeks. 

**Author's Note:**

> i'm dieofthatroar on tumblr, come say hi!
> 
> have i been spending all my time in isolation playing board games? maybe.


End file.
